No abstract

Lake Taihu is characterized by its shallowness (mean depth = 1.9 m) and large surface area (2,338 km 2 ). Runoff sources are mostly from the mountainous west and southwest, and outflows are located throughout East Taihu. This causes shorter retention times in the south. In contrast, urban pollutants discharge into northern Taihu and result in poor water quality. Non-point pollution from rural areas and sewage wastewater is the primary pollution source. Water current velocity ranges from 10-30 cm s -1 , and surface currents normally follow wind direction. Bottom currents appear to be a compensation flow. Most wave heights are less than 40 cm, and underwater irradiance correlates to seston in the water column. Lacustrine sediment is distributed in littoral zones, mostly along the western shoreline, with almost no accumulation in the lake center. Intensive aquaculture in East Taihu caused eutrophication and hampered water supply in surrounding areas. In addition, development of marshiness in the eastern littoral zones and East Taihu has occurred. The function of flood discharging of East Taihu has been limited by flourishing macrophytes. The problems facing in Lake Taihu will be alleviated by improving the management of nutrient sources into the lake.

Based on field investigation of wave, sediment suspension and the changes in nutrient concentration of the water column in Lake Taihu, China, we proposed two release models to quantify nutrient release under static and dynamic conditions, respectively. Under static conditions, nutrient release from sediments to the overlying water mainly depends on chemical diffusion induced by concentration gradient, in which the nutrient release is controlled by the temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration in the sediment-water interface, oxidation-reduction potential and the concentration difference between porewater and overlying water. Under dynamic condition (or disturbed condition), both dissolved and particulate nutrients in sediments are released into the water column because of wind-induced sediment suspension. The amount of nutrient release under dynamic conditions is larger than that under the static condition. The release of dissolved nutrients, however, does not increase because the wind induced turbulence made oxidation of metallic elements such as Fe (ferric iron), Mn which are capable of precipitating soluble reactive phosphate (SRP). Under dynamic conditions, therefore, the release of total phosphorus (TP) increases dramatically but the release of SRP is close to those under static conditions. In sediments of Lake Taihu, high Fe content leads to a high ratio of Fe to P contents in sediments (Fe:P ratio). Under dynamic conditions, therefore, nutrient release is controlled by the intensity of disturbance, sediment consolidation and nutrient content in sediments. As for dissolved nutrients, especially SRP, the release is also controlled by the intensity of dynamic re-oxidation, Fe content in sediments and nutrient concentration gradient between porewater and overlying water. Based on these two release modes, the release flux in Lake Taihu has been estimated. In the static condition (i.e. laboratory experimental condition), total release of NH 4 + -N for whole lake is ca. 10,000 ton/a, and PO 4 3--P is ca. 900 ton/a. In the dynamic condition, nutrient release following sediment suspension was estimated according to three different intensities of wind forcing which were defined as "calm" (wind speed is less than 2 m/s), "gentle" (wind speed is greater than 2 m/s and less than 6 m/s) and "gust" (wind speed is greater than 6 m/s). The release rate in the condition of "calm" was estimated in terms of the nutrient release in the laboratory experimental static condition; whereas the release rate in conditions of "gentle" and "gust" was estimated in terms of measurement during sediment resuspension conducted in flume experiments. With the observation of wind velocity and frequency in 2001, each type of wind forcing took the frequency of 12%, 82% and 6% for "calm", "gentle" and "gust", respectively. The yearly release of nitrogen was 81,000 ton and phos-